Do politics matter when it comes to relationships?

In the wise words of Samantha Jones, “I don’t believe in political parties, I just believe in parties.” which on any given Thursday I would have to say I agree with her but in light of the recent election, this got me thinking about the universal question that crosses my mind every election, does politics matter when it comes to relationships?

I never believed in the concept that politics mattered in relationships until I had not one but TWO guys break up with me because of my political views. Now, what I believe in or don’t believe doesn’t really matter but apparently to these guys it did. Let’s get into it.

I once was seeing this guy for about a few weeks this past summer, he was sweet and cute and things were going great and honestly the thought that our political views could get in the way of our relationship never really crossed my mind. UNTIL, one night he said, “What would you do if you ever got pregnant right now” First off, can we all just agree that this is f. weird that homeboy would ask that? Like we were only a few weeks into this thing and don’t get me wrong he was very cute but not cute enough to be blessed with my hypothetical offspring but moving on.

Now, what I said or didn’t say doesn’t really matter but in the end, homeboy dumped me over our hypothetical child. Which was my first indication that politics did in fact matter in relationships but me being the over-optimistic human that I am wanted to believe that hey maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, besides who wants to be with a guy who was planning on having my children, when we were only a month into dating? Not me, so we moved on with our lives.

The second time, I realized that politics mattered in relationships was when I met another guy who was also sweet and awesome until one day I discovered one of his hobbies. Now before I begin explaining about man #2 let me fill you in on some background information. So, imagine this its summer break, all your college friends have gone home and your weekends have been replaced by hanging out in someone’s basement from high school and movie marathon’s with your mom. If you can imagine you would get bored pretty fast, so what better way to cure your boredness? Hit up an old high school boyfriend of course. Am I exactly proud of dating this guy again because I had nothing better to do this past summer? No, but honestly after the way he ended things with me, this article does not compare to the justice this man deserves but moving on with the story.

Basically, it’s the same old, same old, guy meets girl, girl likes the guy, things are going awesome until one day I look under his car seat to find this huge ass handgun literally right under me. This followed into the conversation that he was a HUGE gun guy and no one was going to take away his guns, America. Now, like I said I’m not going to share my political views with you guys but I will let you know one thing about me and that is that I’m not a fan of guns, to each it’s own but personally it’s not my thing. Now, to this guy it WAS his thing, like this man lived, breathe, and worshiped guns, it was like dating the poster child to an NRA ad.

Anyways, not long after I told him I wasn’t a fan of his gun collection, he told me he needed some time apart and I never heard from him again and moral of the story ladies and gentlemen is you should never hit up your high school ex-boyfriend’s when your bored and B. You should never date a conservative Republican if you don’t side with our current gun laws. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

No just kidding, but in all honesty, after those events occurred, I came to the conclusion that in relationships politics do matter (somewhat) and here’s why. Whatever controversial issues you support or don’t support reflect a lot about your moral and life values, not every issue but the big ones. So if your dating someone who’s life values doesn’t match up with yours I’d imagine it be hard to maintain a long-term relationship if you guys don’t believe in the same things. (EX: if I ended up with guy #2 our living room decor probably would of consist of a wall dedicated to AR-15’s.) UNLESS you happened to be dating someone who is pretty cool and open-minded then I think it could work. I think it sorta depends on the person tbh.

I asked random people at work one day what they thought on the topic and this is what they said.-

Barback guy: Oh yeah, for sure they do, if I was dating a girl who’s political views didn’t line up with mine I would end it immediately.

One of the kitchen workers: Yes, they do. My wife and I have been married for 20 years and the most we fought in our entire marriage is when Bush, Obama, and Trump have been in office.

The Bartender: No, but also some things are better left unsaid when it comes to those types of things.

A random couple I sat: Ahh, not really. We don’t share the same political views, yet we get along but then again we’re both pretty laid back when it comes to politics.

A drunk guy sitting at the bar (and I quote word to word): ” Listen, honey, I grew up super liberal and I once had a friend who grew up super controversial and our friendship actually ended over a fight about our political views, so yes they do.

So in conclusion, I think it depends on the person and the situation and it seems like out of all the people that I have asked they do matter in relationships, but only if you let it. So this Thanksgiving, remember to agree to disagree with your conservative or liberal family members and if all else fails at least there’s wine.